CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwire - Sep 6, 2012) - The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) is proud to announce that Google, Whole Foods, 3M, Pepsi, and McDonald's will serve as a judge for the 2012 WOMMY Awards Competition. Other prominent brand marketers that will judge the best word of mouth and social media marketing case studies of 2012 include AT&T, MasterCard, Procter & Gamble, Dell, Hershey's, and Heinz.

"The prestigious WOMMY Awards are made possible by this incredible list of judges who are donating their time and expertise," said Suzanne Fanning, President of WOMMA. "These folks are excelling in our field at the highest level, and we are honored to have them working with WOMMA to identify the most outstanding case studies in word of mouth and social media marketing for 2012."

The WOMMYs give companies the opportunity to compete against some the brightest and most innovative brands in the world. Any marketer, brand or partner that has leveraged the word of mouth medium and implemented a great idea that has made a business impact is encouraged to submit.

The 2012 WOMMY Awards is divided into eight categories. Those categories and judges include:

Introduction Award: Best word of mouth communication program to introduce new products/services

Joshua Karpf: Director of Digital, Pepsi

Beletra Atwaters: Manager of U.S. Comm., McDonald's

David Armano: EVP, Edelman

Victor Lee: VP, Hasbro

Matt Moller: Dir. Digital Engagement, Samsung

Robert Ricci: GSVP, Marina Maher

Allison Kronick: Global Relation, Google

Beletra Atwaters: Comm. Manager, McDonald's

Christine Morrison: Sr. Social Media Manager, Intuit

Sharyn Smith: Director of Social Media and Performance, The Soup

Momentum Award: Best word of mouth program to juice existing products/services

Anna Lingeris: Manager, Global PR & Consumer Engagement, Hershey

Gerard Babitts: Group Leader, Heinz

Paul Rand: President and CEO, Zocalo Group

Asit Gupta: CEO, Advocacy WOM Ltd

Stephanie Agresta: EVP, Weber Shandwick

Peter Storck: SVP, HouseParty

Jason Lankow: CEO, Column Five Media

Social Media Award: Best use of social media as a communication medium

Blair Klein: Executive Director, AT&T

Michael Donnelly: Head of Global Social Media, MasterCard

Scott Monty: Head of Social Media, Ford

Jenna Lebel: VP, Likeable Media

Ashley Libby: Founder, the Anca Group

Jane Collins: Director, Blogher

Brandon Evans: CEO, Crowdtap

Adam Brown: Executive Director, Dell

Sabrina Caluori: VP of Social Media and Performance Marketing, HBO

Mobile Award: Best use of mobile to generate word of mouth

Blake Cahill: President, Banyan Branch

Samantha DeVita: Director, R2Intergrated

Ryan Schram: CMO, IZEA

Esmee Williams: President, Allrecipes

Melissa Young: Design Producer, FeedMagnet

Charitable Award: Best use of integrated digital marketing focused on the use of digital media as a tactic to advance a cause marketing initiative

Natanya Anderson: Team Leader, Whole Foods

Geno Church: WOMM Guru, Brains on Fire

Kate Hull: VP, RAINN

Chris Bowler: VP, Razorfish

Hilary Baris: Director, Drugfree.org

Alisa Aidan: Managing Director, UNICEF

Jay Scott: Founder, Alex's Lemonade

Marc Sirkin: CCO, Autism Speaks

Sharyn Smith: Owner, Soup

Measurement Award: Best strategic thinking to measure the impact/success of WOM

"We could not think of a more deserving and humble group to judge the 2012 WOMMY Awards Competition," shared WOMMY Co-Chairs Levitan and Yarus, both of governing member MRY. "These pioneers abide by the highest of standards and know they will bring that intensity and passion to the WOMMYs."

WOMMA will be accepting submissions for the 2012 WOMMY Awards through Sept. 14 at 12:00 A.M. All entrants will be notified by Oct. 11 of their entry status. Brands and agencies who submit before Aug. 10 will receive significant discounts on their entries. Information on WOMMY entry fees can be found here.

WOMMA, www.WOMMA.org, is the leading trade association in the marketing and advertising industries that focuses on word of mouth, consumer-generated and social media platforms -- or marketing techniques that include buzz, viral, community, and influencer marketing, as well as brand blogging. The organization is committed to developing and maintaining appropriate ethical standards for marketers and advertisers engaging in such marketing practices, identifying meaningful measurement standards for such marketing practices, and defining "best practices" for the industry.

Founded in 2004, WOMMA members include marketers and brands that use word of mouth marketing to reinforce their core customers and to reach out to new consumers, agencies that deliver word of mouth services and technologies, researchers that track the word of mouth experience and offline and online practitioners.

About the WOMMY Awards

The WOMMY Awards celebrate word of mouth marketing in its broadest sense. Since 2006, WOMMA has acknowledged people, agencies and brands behind the most remarkable word of mouth marketing campaigns. The awards give all marketers, both large and small, the platform they deserve to be recognized for their unbelievable work throughout the year.

According to eMarketer, "US marketers will spend $7.72 billion to advertise on social networking sites this year." In conjunction with the rapid changes Facebook and other social sites are implementing, this statistic is driving unprecedented interest in all forms of online and offline word of mouth marketing.

Word of mouth marketing isn't about creating word of mouth - it is about learning how to make WOM work within a marketing objective (price, product, place, promotion, people). Brand and agency marketers are encouraged to enter their best work demonstrating product or service innovation, customer engagement, or research. These awards are designed to attract and celebrate the very best examples of word of mouth marketing.